More questions than answers with lockout

We know hockey’s coming back. We know the NHL rinks will soon be lit up again, but there’s still lots of questions.

Like:

*Will all 30 teams play on Jan. 19 when the league will likely start up, with camps opening this upcoming weekend? Makes sense to me. Sources in Los Angeles say the Kings would have an afternoon start at the Steples Center to raise their Stanley Cup banner because there’s an NBA game that night at Staples. The Cup champs should get special dispensation, a game alone from the rest.

*The Oilers are under the impression they’ll still be playing games against Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa even though they’re based in the East and the new schedule will almost surely be Western Conference teams vs Western Conference teams. The ongoing Habs for Oilers, Leafs vs Flames games is news to the NHL home office. All the Western Canadian clubs have a huge Maple Leafs and Canadiens’ following with folks dragging out their Darryl Sittler and Guy Lafleur sweaters but maybe that’ll be put on the back-burner this season.

*When will the NHL season end? As it stands now, it’s supposed to end April 13, but if starts Jan. 19 and it’s 48 games, that’s 48 games in only 85 days. No way that’ll happen. Some think it’ll run about three more weeks until Sunday May 5. That would be 48 games in 107 days. Much better, even if the NHL decides on 50 games, not 48. Of course, that pushes the playoffs back, too. What would be the conference breakdown in a 48-game season? I’ve heard seven games vs Northwest division foes for Oilers (28 games) and two vs other 10 teams, but also heard five games vs two of the Northwest rivals and four games vs the other two (that’s 18) and three games vs the other 10 games for 48 total.

*Which teams could have goalie concerns in the early going? Marty Brodeur, 41 in May,, never played during the lockout. Neither did workhorse Miikka Kiprusoff in Calgary or Jimmy Howard in Detroit or Marc-Andre Fleury in Pittsburgh or Mike Smith in Phoenix. Neither did Jonathan Quick in LA. He’s coming off August surgery to repair a disc fragment in his back, and the defending Cup champs need his brilliance right off the hopper. Devan Dubnyk here, Cory Schneider (Vancouver), Ilya Bryzgalov (Philly), Jonathan Bernier (LA), Pekka Rinne (Nashville), Henrik Lundqvist (Rangers), Ondrej Pavelec (Winnipeg) and Sergei Bobvrovsky (Columbus) did.

*Will the NHL decide on rivals meeting the first day of games to cut down on travel? The Oilers have Jan. 19 blocked off for a home date with Anaheim Ducks, but it might make more sense to have the Ducks in LA for that afternoon Stanley Cup banner raising on Jan. 19, and Calgary coming up to play the Oilers here that night on Hockey Night in Canada. Same in the East if the Rangers play the Islanders, Philly and Pittsburgh meets and Toronto and Montreal or Toronto and Ottawa and the Habs and the rival Bruins. “All I’ll say is we have the 19th blocked off. We have dates blocked off (in the current schedule) but who we play is up to the NHL,” said Oilers’ team president Patrick LaForge.

*The Oilers have to vacate Rexall Place from late February through March 10 because the Brier’s in there, and they have an eight-game road trip planned, but will they really play eight of what could be 24 road games on a revised schedule on one trip or will that change a little? They’ll have to change it. As it stands now, the Oilers are in Nashville, Carolina, Columbus, Minnesota, Detroit, New Jersey, New York (Rangers) and St. Louis. They won’t be playing Carolina, the Devils or Rangers this season (only Western conference teams vs Western conference teams), so they’ll have to insert some Western Conf teams in the Hurricanes, Jersey, Rangers’ spot. Plus, the Oilers are supposed to play in Montreal on Jan. 29th, Ottawa Jan. 31 and Toronto on Feb. 2. What if they don’t have those normal games against Canadian foes like they do most years (home and away)? Again, they’ll have to find three Western Conf. games for those dates. After the eight-game Brier road trip, the Oilers have eight in a row at Rexall. That’s overkill.

*Agree with the Vancouver Sun’s estimable scribe Iain MacIntyre who wonders how the lockout could last so long, yet the league wants to wait another 13 days (from Sunday) to start the season (Jan.19), further dragging out the playoffs.

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